Those of you who know me, know that I love TV, well scratch that, I love good TV. I barely watch regular TV (I hate commercials) but I watch a lot of TV series from around the world anx with TV series I mean scripted, I can’t stand reality TV but that is another post. Today I want to talk about TV pilots and why I can’t get enough of them.
Every year, new shows get developed and some lucky writers see their pilot scripts produced. Sure, only some of them make it to series but in my opinion pilots (even unaired ones) are fun to watch. I like how a pilot has to set up the characters and create a world. Seldom a pilot is the best episode of a show and it usually takes a show some time to really find itself but you can see the core of the show in the pilot and you also can tell whenthat core is missing.
I just saw the unaired pilot for “The Big Bang Theory” and it is really bad, really bad. The story doesn’t work, penny is missing (there is another girl but something ist just wrong with her charavter and the way she is introduced) and ther is other odd stuff that doesn’t feel right. There is one thing though that works and it is the only thing that survived into the second pilot that started the show we all love: Sheldon and Leonard. Their chemistry and their banter just works even though everything around them is just off.
What I reall want to say is this. Pilots are a great opportunity to watch the beginning of a story and train your eye to find the core of story, a skill that is always usefull.
Cheers.
